Photo: Bitterroot National Forest · Public domainJobs, pay and the trip to work in Sula
There are 9 jobs in Sula for 8 working residents. For 0% of workers, the job is at home (Montana 12%). Hardly any work in Sula itself; outside it, Salmon draws the most (13%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sula on a workday afternoon
On a workday 8 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 9 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10 people are in Sula on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.13 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Sula’s working residents head each day
Where Sula clocks in
13% of workers
13% of workers
13% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Goods jobs make up 78% of work in Sula
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sula, 2013 → 2023: 3 → 9. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sula’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Sula
of Sula workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Montana: 81% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Sula’s workers travel
About 43% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Sula workers work outside Montana. The job records count 13% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Sula: questions
What is the poverty rate in Sula?
0.0%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Sula work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salmon (13%, 46 mi), Columbia Falls (13%, 175 mi), Hamilton (13%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Sula without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sula, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sula
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.